Polyethylene pipe is used commercially for the construction of pipelines for various applications such as natural gas, water, sewer, and other materials. In addition, polyethylene pipe may be used as conduit to protect transmission cables such as high voltage electricity, fiber optic telecommunication, telephone, cable television, and other signal cables.
Polyethylene pipe is typically joined through a process called fusion welding, the most common joint being a butt joint. A butt joint is formed by holding the two sections of pipe rigidly, performing a facing operation to square the ends of the pipes and prepare the pipes for welding, then heating the prepared faces of the pipes on a hot plate to the melting point, removing the heating element, and forcing the two melted faces together. The resulting joint may be cooled before being subjected to any handling forces. The result is a fused joint that is as strong or stronger than the parent material and is very reliable.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,990,209 issued to George Rakes entitled “Self Propelled Fusion Machine” (Rakes) is a machine adapted to perform a fusion welding process on polyethylene pipe as described above. Rakes is incorporated herein by reference for all that it discloses and teaches. The Rakes machine performs a sequence of operations to fusion weld polyethylene pipe in a semi automated fashion, with provisions for easily loading and unloading the pipe as it is welded. Additionally, the Rakes device performs the fusion welding process in an enclosed environment, adding to the consistency and speed to a pipeline construction.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,926,534 issued to William Temple entitled “Pipe Welder for Simultaneously Fusing a Plurality of Polyethylene Pipes” (Temple) is a machine adapted to perform a fusion welding process on adjacent pipes, for example, pipes that run parallel to one another along a ditch. Temple is incorporated herein by reference for all that it discloses and teaches.
Both Rakes and Temple describe machines that travel along the direction of the pipe to perform the fusion welding operation to joint sequential pipes. In order to introduce the pipe to the machines of Rakes and Temple, a user must lift and position the pipe manually or using an additional machine such that the pipe fusion machine may prepare the pipes for the fusion welding operation.
Accordingly, a loading device that lifts and positions the pipe for a fusion welding operation is required.